Rupert Murdoch has reassured staff of his "total commitment" to
continue to own and publish The Sun after five members of staff were
arrested.

In an internal memo to staff, Tom Mockridge, chief executive of the title's parent company News International, said he had received a "personal assurance" from Mr Murdoch that he plans to continue to own and publish The Sun.

Five top journalists, including Geoff Webster, the newspaper's deputy editor, were detained earlier today on suspicion of making illegal payments to police officers and other officials before being released on bail.

For the first time, the arrests broadened beyond payments to police, with a Ministry of Defence employee and a member of the Armed forces held by police before also being bailed to a date in May.

The development suggests Scotland Yard’s Operation Elveden, set up to investigate illegal payments to police officers, is now focusing on a wider range of alleged illegal activity than previously thought.

The five Sun staff were held in a series of early-morning raids after information was handed to the Metropolitan Police by News Corporation, the tabloid’s parent company.

Other journalists arrested were John Kay, a former chief reporter who joined the title in 1974; Nick Parker, chief foreign correspondent; John Edwards, picture editor; and John Sturgis, deputy news editor.

Scotland Yard would not disclose the names of those arrested but said men aged 45, 50 and 68 were arrested at their homes in London, a 52-year-old Sun journalist was detained at his home in Kent and a 47-year-old man was held at his Essex home.

All five were arrested on suspicion of corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906; aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office and conspiracy.

A 39-year-old woman employed by the Ministry of Defence was arrested at her home in Wiltshire and is being questioned at a police station in the county, along with a 36-year-old member of the Armed forces who was also held at an address in Wiltshire.

A 39-year-old serving police officer with Surrey Police was also arrested at his home in Surrey.

The memo sent by Mr Mockridge went on: "I have today written to the Independent Police Complaints Commission to seek clarification from them about the process of independent oversight of the police investigation.

"Some of the individuals arrested have been instrumental in breaking important stories about public bodies, for example the scandal of our under resourced troops in Iraq."

He added: "You should know that I have had a personal assurance today from Rupert Murdoch about his total commitment to continue to own and publish The Sun newspaper."

Detectives from Operation Elveden searched The Sun newsroom in Wapping, east London, for evidence. Homes of the eight people arrested were also searched.

Dominic Mohan, editor of The Sun, said: "I'm as shocked as anyone by today's arrests but am determined to lead The Sun through these difficult times.

"I have a brilliant staff and we have a duty to serve our readers and will continue to do that. Our focus is on putting out Monday's newspaper."

It is the second batch of high-profile arrests at The Sun to take place in just two weeks.

On January 28, four current and former senior executives at The Sun who were closely associated with former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks were held as part of the same inquiry.

Sources within Rupert Murdoch’s powerful publishing group described the process as “draining the swamp”.

The previous batch of arrests included Fergus Shanahan, 57, who was Mrs Brooks’ deputy during her editorship of The Sun from 2003 to 2009.

Another executive was Graham Dudman, 49, who held a series of senior jobs with The Sun and was promoted from an assistant editor role to managing editor under Mrs Brooks in 2004.

He was made editorial development director for News International in June last year, and also serves as a board member of the Society of Editors.

Chris Pharo, 42, who was promoted by Mrs Brooks from news editor to head of news in 2007, was also arrested last month, along with Mike Sullivan, 48, the paper’s long-serving crime editor.

The four are currently on bail until dates in April and May, and have been suspended from their jobs.

A source familiar with the workings of News Corporation’s Management and Standards Committee (MSC), set up last July to oversee the company’s response to the police investigation, said at the time of the previous arrests: “This is a mark of the absolute determination of News Corporation to drain the swamp.”

When Mrs Brooks appeared in front of a Commons committee in 2003, she was asked by Chris Bryant MP whether her newspaper had been involved in improper activities.

Mrs Brooks replied: “We have paid the police for information in the past.”

Andy Coulson, her successor as News of the World editor who later worked as David Cameron’s director of communications, rapidly moved to suggest to the committee that any payments were made “within the law”.

The evidence of alleged police payments are contained in a series of emails passed by News International to the law firm Harbottle & Lewis, shortly after Clive Goodman, the News of the World’s royal reporter was jailed for phone hacking in 2007.

That file was subsequently passed to the Met police only in June last year, prompting questions about a widespread cover-up at a very senior level of illegal payments to police.

The emails are alleged to show that phone hacking went far beyond the activities of ‘one rogue reporter’ – as News international had once insisted – and that payments to officers appeared to have been authorised by senior executives between 2003 and 2007.

The News of the World was shut down last July after it was implicated in the phone hacking scandal.

Mrs Brooks resigned as News International chief executive the following week. Two days later she was arrested and questioned by police investigating payments to police and the phone hacking scandal, before being bailed.

All four journalists held on January 28 were arrested on suspicion of corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906; aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office and conspiracy in relation to both those offences.

The arrests brought the number of people questioned in the Elveden investigation to 22. Scotland Yard have arrested 21 suspects and the Independent Police Complaints Commission have arrested one.